Outlaw Star: Broken Ties
by Grim MG
Summary: Read this after story to the original Outlaw Star! New chapter means new twists. Ok, I lied. The answer to the MacDougall question isn't in this new chapter. I promise it will be in the next one, though.
1. Default Chapter

All right, been a while since I've seen Outlaw Star but I'm gunna take a shot at making a good fanfic. I don't remember some things so if I mess this up tell me, I'll fix it and place my blessing upon you (the blessing of fire. Ooooo, FIRE!!!).  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Outlaw Star®, it's characters, or the company that created it, as much as I wish that I did.  
  
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Gene walks out from a shop. The sign above the shop reads "Starwind and Hawking Enterprise" on a half-rotted wooden board. Gene sighs and walks down the street alone. As he walks, he thinks to himself, "I sure miss that old ship..." He keeps walking for a bit until he reaches a mid-sized house. He walks up the walkway to the door and opens it. He opens the door to find it empty inside. "I wonder where Melfina went," Gene says. He walks over to a couch and flops down on it. "It's just not the same without Jim here," Gene says to himself, "I can't believe that he left me behind when he went off in the ship... That little punk, I'm gunna pound his head in when he gets back... If he comes back." Gene pulls a beer from the cooler next to the couch and starts to drink. Just like always he just sits there and drinks thinking of the crew and the Outlaw Star.  
  
Gene remembers clearly the day Jim and the others left, leaving him and Melfina behind. "Just another day at Starwind and Hawking Enterprise," Jim says in a dull tone. "Awww, come on, it's not that bad," Gene says, putting his hand on Jim's head. "Hey! Come on, don't do that! I'm not a little kid," Jim says indignantly. "But you're always a kid to me," Gene says and ruffles Jim's hair. "Ok, that's it," Jim says and jumps at Gene. They roll around wrestling until Melfina comes and gets them for lunch. "You guys are so silly," says Melfina when she sees them. "Hey, Jim here started it," Gene says smiling with his hand behind his head. "No I didn't! You did!" Jim says in mock-anger. Melfina smiles and they all laugh.  
  
Later on, Jim goes over to Gene and asks, "Have you ever wanted to go back to how it was before we beat Hazanko?" "Honestly, yes I have wanted to go back, but that just can't happen any more. We beat the guy and now he's dead. It would be fun to relive the last battle with him though," Gene says smiling. "How come you don't go out in the ship anymore?" Jim asks. "It wouldn't be the same, Jim. It's not like we can go out there and everything is back to how it was, it doesn't work like that. It would only make us feel worse to fly around in that old thing without anything ever happening," Gene says irately. "Do you ever wonder what happened to Ron MacDougall?" Jim asks. "Not really, why?" Gene asks. "We never really found him. He could be out there you know," Jim says.  
  
"Jim, you think too much," Gene says in a dry tone. Jim and Gene wrestle around again. Gene is sitting back in a chair while Jim goes through the work on the computer. "You know you could help a little," Jim says crossly. "You know you could take a break any time," Gene says unenthusiastically. "Gene, you're impossible!" Jims says and walks off. Gene sits there as Suzuka walks by. "Gene have you seen Aisha around?" asks Suzuka. "Nope, she must be out somewhere," Gene replies and yawns. After a while Gene gets up to find Jim. "Hey Jim, are you here?" Gene calls out. "Yeah, I'm here," Jim replies. "Where've you been?" Gene asks. "Talking to Gillian," Jim says. "Oh, what did you talk about?" Gene asks curiously. "About how much he's gone into disrepair. You really need to fix him up sometime soon," Jim says, anger showing in his voice.  
  
"Why? He's not gunna be flying anytime soon," Gene says. "Maybe you won't be flying him but I will. I really want to see the Outlaw Star off the ground sometime soon," Jim says. "It has no navigation system without Melfina in it," Gene says. "I just installed a new navi-system. It should fly just fine with it," Jim says. "Since when do you have the money for something like that?" Gene asks. "I built it myself," Jim says. "I don't think we should be flying in that thing. It's been grounded for too long," Gene says. "Well I didn't say you had to come. I can fly it myself," Jim says. "Don't get yourself killed," Gene says and laughs.  
  
Gene takes another sip of his beer. "Maybe I shouldn't have laughed at him," Gene thinks to himself, "I was wrong to do that." Gene finishes his beer and lays back. "Yeah, maybe I should 'a gone," Gene says groggily, "Maybe... may... be..." Gene yawns and falls asleep on the couch. The moonlight shines through the window down on Gene as he lies there. He turns over on his side and falls deep into sleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ Wow, that was depressing hmmmm... I sense more of his story to come... in next chapter. So, don't stop reading. Look for the next chapter, coming soon. Even sooner if you review this! 


	2. Where Your Heart Leads You

Been a while but I've got what I needed to from where it was hidden (ideas (behind the door marked ideas)). So, let's get down to business.  
  
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"Wait! What are ya' doin'? Don't leave me!" cries a young Gene Starwind. The last glimpse of his father fades into an older Jim Hawking. "You never listened to me! Now you don't have anyone but yourself to blame for where you are!" yells Jim as the young Gene cowers, shaking. Suzuka appears in place of Jim. "You didn't pay attention. You just let us all leave and never noticed. How does that make you feel?" Suzuka says to Gene. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!!"  
  
Gene sits up sweating on the couch. Light filters through the curtains, making the motes of dust in the air look like little pieces of gold. Gene places a hand on his forehead and mutters, "It's not... my fault..." The words of his dream still echo in his mind. He sits up and Melfina opens the door smiling. "Oh, you're awake. Good morning, Gene. You were asleep last night when I got here, so I didn't want to disturb your sleep," Melfina says with a happy air around her. "I'll cook you breakfast." Gene turn on the TV and a news report is starting. "It seems the notorious MacDougall brothers have suddenly reappeared today as a fire fight broke out in a local café. No serious injuries have been reported at this time. The other group in the fight was to this point unknown. Consisting of a Ctarl-Ctarl woman, a female swordsman wielding a wooden sword, and a young man with a pistol. If you have any information about either group contact us at," the telecaster, cut short by Gene turning off the TV.  
  
"Melfina, get my caster, some of our savings, and any caster shells you can find!" Gene yells into the kitchen. "But breakfast is almost finished and why do you need that?" Melfina asks, confused by the sudden request. Gene appears in the kitchen with a determined look on his face. "Some old friends need our help and another old acquaintance needs a bullet between the eyes," Gene says in a cool voice. Melfina gives a look, showing that she was still confused. "It's Jim, ok," Gene says, looking down, "You'd better make the breakfast to go 'cause we're leaving now." Melfina gives him a look of recognition and starts to gather up the food. "Your caster's in the case with your old jacket," Melfina says as she packs the food, "and the shells are in the bottom drawer of the dresser." Gene runs and gathers the items, and he and Melfina head out to find their friends.  
  
"No sub-ether drive on this old one, but with your credit, it's the only on you can afford," the salesman says smoothly. "I won't take that, I know ships and the duel-engine, over there, with the sub-ether drive is worth less than you are asking!" Gene says, losing his temper with the man. Gene relaxes and smiles. "Why don't you just give us a special discount?" Gene asks, flashing the caster hanging on his belt. The salesman shrinks back and stutters, "I-it's a-all y-y-yours." "I thought you'd see it my way. I'm in a hurry so I'll pay cash," Gene says confidently. Moments later they're taking off to find Jim and the rest of the group.  
  
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Well, looks like that's all for now. Check out the next chapter, cause it's starting to get interesting. BUH-BYE!!! ^. ~ 


	3. Scars of the Past

Welcome to the next exciting chapter. It seems our little buddy Jim has met an old acquaintance with the last name MacDougall. Upon hearing the trouble Jim's in, Gene immediately springs into action to find his lost friend and to figure out the answer to a nagging question, "How is Harry alive!?!"  
  
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*Jim, I'm coming for ya. Don't get yourself hurt before I get there* Gene thinks to himself as he and Melfina fly up to the docking gate. As soon as Gene gets through the gate, a group of flashing lights gets his attention. Over at the smoking ruins of a café, there are five police cars.  
  
"They must have had fun for things to look like that down there," Gene says to Melfina as they walk through the series of catwalks that make up the port area. Gene can't help but feel a little worried about Jim with things looking like that.  
  
"I'm sure he made it out fine," Melfina says to Gene seeing the look of worry on his face. They sit down and eat their breakfast that is now cold. Gene opens a laptop and sends a message to Fred. Moments later, Fred's happy face comes up on the screen.  
  
"Hello Gene. It's been a long time," Fred says smiling, "Why don't you talk to me more often like Jim does?"  
  
"You've been in contact with Jim recently?" Gene asks, getting a nod from Fred, "So, where is he?"  
  
"Right now he's with me, although the lady Suzuka makes me a bit nervous," Fred says and looks back over his shoulder.  
  
"Fred, you better make room for two more cause we're coming over," Gene says to Fred and closes the laptop.  
  
Moments later Gene walks through the door of Fred Lou's estate. As he walks in an alarm goes off and to security guards walk over to him. "Sir, your fire arms must be deposited here," one says. Fred walks in and waves the guards away.  
  
"Sorry about that, they're just doing their jobs," Fred apologizes to Gene as they walk. They head down several corridors to a single dark wood door. Fred opened the door and standing inside were Suzuka and Aisha. Lying in bed was Jim. As Gene approached him he saw that Jim had bandages wrapped around his abdomen. Gene looks at Suzuka with a questioning glance.  
  
"You probably herd about our little fire fight on the news. Jim didn't escape that without a scratch. He was hit with a shot from a pistol but not without getting a hit in of his own. He'll be fine. We shouldn't have to worry about MacDougall for a while. He'll be off licking his wounds," Suzuka said.  
  
After getting settled in a room of his own, Gene went to check on Jim. Jim was still asleep at the time. Gene went to talk to Fred after sitting by Jim's bedside for a while. Gene found him talking with one of the security guards from before.  
  
"Fred, have a minute?" Gene asked.  
  
"Yes? What do you want to talk about?" Fred replies.  
  
"Why didn't you mention Jim's injuries before when I talked to you? You know that it's one of those things that's important," Gene said.  
  
"I didn't want to make you any more angst than you already were. I knew that if you came and saw the injuries weren't that bad it would be better for how you would react to the news," Fred explained.  
  
"Next time, don't do that or I might end up shooting you when I see you. I'm getting some rest and then I'm going to hit the bars. It's been a while since I stopped by a bar here. Fred, you owe me some caster shells for not telling me everything," Gene said and walked off.  
  
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Well, that's all for right now. I wonder what Gene is going to do to Ron MacDougall when he finally catches him. It should be fun to watch... urh uh... read. 


	4. Friendship and Broken Ties

Last in this story we found that Jim ran into a bit more trouble than was expect. Upon arriving at Fred Lou's, Gene found his little buddy (not so little anymore) wounded and unconscious. The first thing Gene wants to do is get back at the MacDougalls for injuring Jim. Now let our story unfold (I used to be schizophrenic but we're ok now)  
  
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"Gene! Do you really want to leave Jim like this? You'll go off and get yourself killed," Melfina yells to Gene as he starts to walk out the door. Gene stops and turns to Melfina.  
  
"You know, your right. I shouldn't leave Jim like this. I'll wait 'till he's better before I go," Gene says in a calm voice. He walks back to Jim's room and sits down. He thinks back to the grand times of the Outlaw Star and sinks back into his chair. As his thoughts drift he remembers the hot springs planet and grins to himself. It has been a long time since he's spent more than three or four minutes in the same room as Jim. It's been eight years since the end off their space adventures and Jim had become quite responsible for being 19, unlike the one and only Gene Starwind. Though, Gene has also become more responsible over the years.  
  
Three days later Jim is up and walking around. It had been two days since he woke up and now he seemed to be just as determined as Gene to get back at the MacDougall brothers. In fact, despite his being responsible, he has grown to be much like Gene. Jim still keeps to wearing red long-sleeved t-shirts, with a dark blue jacket, finger gloves, and white pants. Gene's style has changed a bit. He now wears a black t-shirt, a brown leather jacket, his gloves, and long black shorts that hang down to his shins. As for the rest of the crew, they're pretty much the same (unfortunately for Aisha). It seems that Jim has become quite professional with the pistol and has some skill comparable to Gene himself. On the fourth day since Jim woke up Gene went up to him to talk.  
  
"So how have you been and what have you seen? By the way, you're still my LITTLE buddy," Gene says with a smirk. Jim gives Gene a look of incomprehension. Jim rubs his hands over his eyes and looks at Gene. Jim stands there for a moment then plops down into a nearby chair.  
  
"Hhhrrraaaarrrrnnnn... oh, yeah. What have I done, right? Well the crew left and we were sorta low on cash. So, we took a stop by Fred. He gave us some funds and we took off back to the hot springs. We stayed for a while then headed out. We ran into the MacDougall's ship and they sorta followed us here," Jim said, yawning as he started talking.  
  
"That's all?" Gene asked, "Are you going to tell me how in the hell Harry can be back?" Jim stares at Gene for a moment. He leans back and lets out a sigh.  
  
"You see, Harry downloaded his memory into a computer and from there it was downloaded into an android. So, basically it's Harry but it really isn't at all. He's quite the bit of machinery at that. He's fully equipped for just about any battle scenario," Jim explained slowly to Gene, "The only things he can handle is very high voltage and a direct shot at close range with a caster. So, now that you're here, I think we can fix this little problem once and for all."  
  
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Well, looks like we might have a little bit of caster action soon. Jim's personality change has a little to do with his stay at the hot springs planet. If someone knows the name of it, tell me please. Keep reading devoted anime fans and help me help you by fix anything that is wrong with my story. ^_^ 


End file.
